Abstract
Thomas Szasz (b. 1920) died on 8 September 2012. His role in the history of psychiatry cannot yet be determined, but his dogged critique of the concept of mental illness will secure for him a place in the epistemology of our discipline. Whether his arguments were sufficiently sound will in time be less important than the fact that his challenge was a cri de coeur, a very personal protest made in the name of an irrepressible political libertarianism. This point was missed by those who attacked him when his Myth of Mental Illness (1961) was published. Listing ‘scientific’ findings to show that the brain was ‘abnormal’ in mental disease or stating that sufferers got better after receiving psychotherapy or biological treatments did not deal with his central claim (around since Descartes) that the mind cannot become ill in the way in which the body does. Thomas was a loyal friend and a formidable and respectful contender. It is an honour for History of Psychiatry that his last publication while alive may prove to be ‘Varieties of psychiatric criticism’ in the September issue (23(3): 349–355).
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Footnotes
Acknowledgements
The editor would like to thank the Members of the Advisory Board, the assistant editors and the many colleagues for their sterling help with the onerous task of refereeing the papers submitted to History of Psychiatry. It would be difficult to run the journal without their generous support.
Thanks are also due to the Book Reviews Editors whose industry and perseverance maintain one of the important sections of our journal.